Sean McDevitt
FightingIllini.com

A bricklayer builds a wall one brick at a time. It isn't a process that works well when rushed. Bricklayers are deliberate. They take their time building the foundation. Once a proper foundation is laid, the next step is to finish the wall and then three more walls. With time and patience, the wall becomes a structure...a building...a skyscraper.

Illinois athletics is building a foundation, and it simply can't be built overnight. It takes time, energy, and vision.

Over the last year, capital fundraising for Illinois athletics has brought in more than $47 million. A year ago, on December 6, 2017, the Demirjian Park gift was announced kicking off an avalanche of donations to come. Since then, the department has had a $20 million, a $5 million and several $3 million and many $1 million+ donations with no sign of slowing down.

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Since last December, four major projects have been announced as moving forward changing the face of Illinois Athletics.

The first was the $20 million Demirjian Park, a complete reimagining of facilities and fields for Illinois Soccer and Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field. The groundbreaking happened in September with scheduled completion in 2021.

Demirjian Park features two new soccer fields, one for competition and one for practice. The project's centerpiece is Demirjian Park Stadium, located between the new soccer fields and the renovated track. The stadium houses team facilities for women's soccer, men's track and field, and women's track and field. State-of-the-art amenities include locker rooms, video and meeting rooms, lounge and study spaces, sports medicine and nutrition facilities, and coaches' offices.

The second is the $79.2 million Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center. Construction of the new 107,650 square foot facility will be completed before the 2019 Illinois Football season.

Adjoining the south end of the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility, the facility features new and expanded strength and conditioning and sports medicine space, coaches' offices, position meeting rooms, player development areas, locker rooms, and other areas for recruiting and prospect hosting.

The $8 million Susan and Clint Atkins Baseball Training Center is the third major capital construction announced. The new indoor Illinois Baseball training complex should be completed by 2021.

The 26,000 square feet training space encompasses an entire baseball infield with ceiling-mounted nets for hitting and pitching practice and an adjoining recruiting lounge. It connected to the current clubhouse and locker rooms.

Lastly, the $1 million Bielfeldt Athletic Administration Building Enhancements will upgrade the facility with expanded office areas, energy efficient lighting and more to match the needs of the growing administrative, Fighting Illini Productions video team, and coaching staffs.

Additionally, one of the brightest is just coming out of its quiet phase the updates and renovations to the Ubben Basketball Complex. The $30 million dollar project was announced last June and now major gifts are on the verge of being announced.

All of these construction projects are tied directly into taking Illinois Athletics back to the top and maintaining successful programs year after year.

SEEING THE VISION

Ask Athletic Director Josh Whitman what his vision of the future is and he'll tell you it's about getting more people involved and engaging with Illinois Athletics, "Be in the stands, fly the flag, donate money, and be a part of the program, whatever way that makes the most sense for them."

Helping lead the charge on these capital campaigns is Howard Milton, Senior Associate Athletic Director, Development. His primary role in the Office of Athletic Development is working to cultivate and solicit major gift donors and this past year has seen unprecedented success.

He believes the reason why is easy to understand.

"What we're seeing is that Josh Whitman is able to articulate our vision for being a championship caliber athletic program," said Milton. "To get there means facilities and sharing that vision. Many of these people are longtime donors, extremely loyal, but they haven't donated blindly. They've donated knowing that this is a long play if you will, a long-term investment. People have given in support because they believe in the leadership. They feel comfortable with being stakeholders with the AD that's in the chair right now and with the decisions he's making. The first step is getting the infrastructure, facilities, staff, recruiting in place and positioning ourselves to be successful."

Looking at the list of donors on these capital projects, one of the things common between them all is their competitive spirit. All have worked hard to become winners, and they want to be associated with winning programs. At the same time, they understand winning doesn't happen overnight.

"Josh obviously came in and knew that we were in need of several facility upgrades to be competitive and that if we were going to turn this thing around it was going to take time," said Milton.

ILLINOIS LOYALTY

A large part of the capital campaign successes of this past year fall on loyal donors who want to give back to the University because they are alums and feel indebted to their school and non-alums who have a different kind of affinity for the school and its athletic programs. It's also about the people and the relationships formed.

Dale and Chris Smith with the Illinois football team.

Donor Stu Levenick meets with Illinois football players.

"It really is about forming meaningful relationships," said Milton. "Once you start having conversations that are impactful and have substance, it's about listening to one another. We hope the relationship can come to a place where it can impact the University. One of the best ways is finding the philanthropic intent of these donors. They want to see something and its always a continuous process. We've been fortunate, and we feel blessed that we have such a loyal group."

Having the support of the university has also been mutually beneficial. The university has done an excellent job supporting the idea of how important a successful athletic program is to the academic side regarding fundraising, faculty recruitment, overall school ratings, and student experience satisfaction.

Demirjian Park grounbreaking ceremony.

The Atkins family with the Illinois baseball team.

"We've got the world's greatest fan base and donor base," said Milton. "It's got enormous capacity. People have come through the University of Illinois and have gone on to be wildly successful. It's a reminder of how important and impactful an Illinois degree is."

Long-term stability was also an attractive aspect for potential donors over the past year and for the future. It was a difference maker with not only large gift donations but for others with smaller gifts to step up as well.

"Donors sense stability with Josh and with the University," said Milton. "They see a university President and Chancellor that has been extremely supportive of athletics. They appreciate that. Additionally, the last two years we've increased our annual fund. It's gone up. That means a lot of people that give $100, $200, these fans have given in support of that too. And that's equally as important as these large gifts."

Over the past 12 months, the most pleasant surprise has been new people reaching out to learn more. "We somewhat knew these individuals, but they came to us asking to share our ideas and our vision for Illinois Athletics," said Milton. "These are folks that really want to support us because they believe in what we're trying to do."

ELITE-MINDED

Illinois has one of the largest communities in the country regarding alumni bases and fan bases.

"If we can just tap into that, and get some percentage of those people to actively participate in our program, I think it'll just open everybody's eyes to what we can really accomplish together," said Whitman. "I believe that in my heart, and that's what drives me every day."

Milton reiterated the same message, "I'm just so proud of this loyal fan base and our staff here. We don't talk about this much, but I've seen our entire office culture change. We've become elite-minded."

The results speak for themselves. Brick by brick.